しかおいようちえんはっぴょうかい

I had a wonderful time watching Shikaoi Kindergarten's Happyokai. The ages of the kids were between three and five. It was a bit of a comedy of errors, as was to be expected, but I was surprised at the level of focus the kids showed. Some skits and song routines were very long but they were performed, for the most part, very smoothly. But it's the errors and foibles that make it so fun (and funny) to watch! But we had lots of those too. I have included, on the side, an image of such a crash. The kids started the dialogue fine, but slowly became confused, until finaly they stopped. The image shows them either looking blankly into the audience or off stage to the teachers for direction. So cute. Later in the same skit, two kids started to fight; someone was shoved, it escalated, hitting occurred on stage, leading the smaller one to run off stage crying. Don't fret though, she reappeared, much soothed, to finish the skit. There was also a fair amount of hats falling off, things dropped, kids tripping, loud off key singing, kids waving to their parents from the stage, kids waving to me from the stage, kids walking off the stage in the middle of the song.

One thing that separates a Christmas concert in Canada and this sort of event is that both the parent/teacher association (oddly called a PTA here too) and the teachers each did a song with "actions". I have included a picture of the teacher's effort below. The Mushi (bug) on the left is my friend Yumei (Fukiko Sakaguchi's son), who helped introduced me to the yochien. Sorry it's such a bad pic and you can't see his face, I think it shows a lot of good action though.


The length, time wise, was another point of difference between Canada and Japan. The whole thing was over three and a half hours, which is a bit long, for adults that is - if you ask me. Watching the kids is exhausting. The attitude here seems to be; why have one and a half hours when you can do three and a half hours? I should make clear that the kids seemed to have more than enough energy, although I predict they will sleep soundly and deeply tonight. I hope they get anything they want for dinner, they deserve it. My students did an excellent job and I was glad to see the fruits of their hard work and practice. They were cute enough to melt even Mr. Burn's heart (to the more mature crowd that reads my bog; he's from the Simpson's). Children's laughter is quickly becoming my favorite sound. It's always instilled and defined wholly by joy - completely filled with life. It makes me feel - I don't know - younger, or more alive, or more happy, or something... And while I abhor a cliche, their singing really does sound like angels'. There was one traditional Japanese song that was a perfect example of this. The kids knew it by heart and it was very simple; the kids sang it with great emotion and I found it very moving. A big grin was on my face all morning, as if my face didn't know whether to start laughing or start crying with joy. It nice to know that for a while, the whole World is not going to sin. This job - being around kids - is giving me many insights into what I thought I knew about the World, none of which I like feel like sharing today in detail. I also so many many student's from Shikaoi Elementery School.

I think a nap is in order.

Just a boring day at home. Usui-san, Kevin and Yuki all left town on various labours, which left me to my own devices. I don't lament it, I have spent most of the day writing. I should be somewhere over 30,000 words by the end of tonight. I did some running around at lunch time and also went for a walk. It's sunny today, but the wind is back. Another reason to stay at home inside. I'm still fighting the tail end of my cold and so I took advantage of a very silent house and took a nap. I'm sick and it's so quiet. I deserved it too. I realized I have not taken a nap since I got here. That's so long ago. I've been so busy. The bright - but low - sun streaming into my small living room. It was a very comfortable place to sleep. Everyone loves naps, I should not have waited this long. So I just slept an hour until five PM. Now I'm watching the November Sumo Tournament. More writing tonight after the Sumo coverage ends and I have something to eat.

お日さま

Man, I love it here. It's great. When the Sun comes out it actually has a warming effect in winter. Why does this seem so new to me? Calgary had Chinooks. With no wind today, it managed to be a very nice fall day. Alas, the leaves are gone, but I will take it. I was at Urimaku elementary school today and the kids were giving me absolutely nothing back. I could have lit myself on fire and it would have been met with on a dull sigh. I think it's because last weekend they had their school festival and they are tired. Needless to say, as evidenced by the picture below, a conbination of me leaving and them being out class revealed their normal selves. But why couldn't they do this in class? I have also included a picture of my sick sorry arse. Pity Me! My mom is very very far away and I can't read soup can labels!

Sunny Post

Nothing much happening today. After my classes at a kindergarten here in Shikaoi on Monday I seemed to have contracted a throat infection - the not so fun side of teaching kds. I feel perfectly well but aggravating it is not an option when my job talking over children's laughter and banter. I have the slightest of fevers, which raised calls for me to go home, but all it means is that my body is fighting an infection - so I'm at work today. They did cut my class from four to one, which is a blessing because if I don't rest my voice it will take forever to heal. Yesterday, my throat was hurting readlly bad and I had five classes at Shikaoi Elementary School; I'm surprised I didn't die... It was a silly thing to do. I'm lucky I didn't lose my voice completely. I think it's because I've been eating like 3 or 4 oranges a day lately. They're in season, so seet, filled with vitiamns and so sweet. I work very hard to stay healthy. Teaching 20 and 30 kids English when sick is daunting. I make it a point to always wash my hands after playing. I am very careful not to touch my month or eyes before I wash my hands. But sometimes the kids want to touch my hair and head and I let them; they are so amazed and I think it help builds trust.

Last night I went out with the Suziki's from Tori Sei (a chicken restaurant). This is the night their restaurant is closed so we ended up going for a dinner in Urimaku, which is a town in Shikaoi, about 8 minutes away by car. (If it isn't clear how this works, its only because I'm not sure either.) We went to what is referred to here as a family restaurant, run but a husband and wife. Mr. Suzuki wanted me to have steak - it was from Shikoai, he said proudly - honestly I would have preferred curried rice or something Japanese, but it was a delicate situation. He kept on asking and asking and pointing to the steak, it was 3000 YEN, I had refused beer because of my sore through, and he and Ken (his grown son) gave me a look like I had just kicked a puppy. Anyway, I had the steak, so did Ken and Mr. Suzuki. Mrs. Suzuki had pasta, which is something I avoid in Japan like the plague, and it kills me because I love pasta, but the cooks normally have never eaten Italian pasta, so it often ends up being rather bland. Which probably in many ways is preferable to the Japanese palette, but if I want to have something with a sutble taste I'd rather have sushi. A good dinner, also got to bed at a very decent time, which I was happy about.

The owners name is Kawai, which is very close to the word Kawaii, which means cute. This was a point of endless laugher last night.

Tomorrow I have a full Friday out at Urimaku Elementary School. Hopefully I'll be feeling well for that. And then on Sunday I have another school festival. This time it's for Shikaoi kindergarten.

7.2 Earthquake

Many people maybe wondering about this aspect about living in Japan and this mornings earthquake provides a good lead in. I guess I will start with the most anti-climatic part; the Japanese treat this as very much routine. It doesn't even raise to the level of water cooler chat. The only places I heard about it were when the news stations were issuing tsunami warnings and when I brought it up with my colleagues and students. With +1400 earthquakes a year, the Japanese have really mastered the art of changing these types of events into the background noise of life. They say with a sigh, simply, "Again...." Now the difference here is by no means the Japanese, its me and my Albertan-ness. At 6:39 AM, 1/3 of the Japanese population woke up. Hokkaido, Sendai, Iwate, Fukishima. This morning at 6:39 AM, if you were not already awake, you suddenly were, and if you were awake, you were then fully awake. I found this morning's events intriguing; tickling the full extent of my curiosity. These sorts of things just don't happen in Alberta!

The earthquake happened just a bit south of Hokkaido, but far out in the ocean, about 350 km East, at a depth of 23 km. If you've lived in Japan for any legate of time you may agree with my thinking that earthquakes can have different characters. Some rumble slowly to life, others are just a single, violent push - a small readjustment of the Earth's crust. Today's was big enough for most people's thoughts to perhaps turn to the topic of maybe getting out of bed and finding shelter in a door frame or under a table. In the end that would not have been necessary, and it seems that because worst didn't become reality the Japanese psyche is much quicker to move on - than silly old me. I felt like I need a stiff drink. I had been lying in bed listening to the radio, but when the house just shook and shook, dishes rattling, doors shaking. And the shaking just seemed to go on and on, It seemed longer than a minute, but in reality where we were it was probably no longer than 40 seconds. I was fully awake so fast I could have been mistaken for a crazed over-caffeinated Starbucks customer. This can't be good for the heart. I'm starting to understand why the people in Skikaoi just ingore it.

There's also the mystery of why most earthquakes happen in the morning. This is a popular topic among foreigners who, antidotally at least, see a correlation. But the mathematics of an earthquake, which is a well-studied phenomenon in Japan, always concludes that these are about the most random events ever - impossible to predict. Just to end on a cheery note, I have also learned recently that Hokkaido is home to the most active volcanos in Japan. These sorts of things are endless source of speculation for my imagination. But to the residents of Shikaoi, its a plus - more excellent hot springs!

A Normal Sunday

I'm just winding down the day, having spent the evening plugging away at my novel. The morning I was surprised by a phone call from home, however it was not to be the biggest surprise of the day. With the last phone call from my parents, the trans-Atlantic line had been very echoey; today however, it was like talking to someone next door. The biggest shock however was right when I got up, it looked a bit bright outside behind my curtains. It was snowing! Although it is almost completely gone as I write this. I remember noting to myself last night how cold it was, with a sharp north wind. It was actually warmer when I was out today and it was snowing. I don't think it got below 0C.

The big thing on my agenda today, as I mentioned in my previous post, was the full day school cultural festival. Basically, I had wanted to watch all of my kids' skits and music performances at the school. It was very amusing and I was unprepared for the sheer scale of it. To begin with the setup, it's all very professional, speakers, video screens; everyone brought blankets from home to sit down on; it looked like a very comfortable way to pass the six hours of performances. All week the kids had been absolutely bouncing off the walls in preparation. I noticed that many of the teachers were looking more tired and haggard than usual too. Today, though, everyone was in high spirits, especially me, despite the weather. I am finding a lack of words to explain the differences between, say, a North American Christmas concert, and today's events. There are many similarities - perhaps the Japanese parents have more high-tech gear to record every minute detail. But the differences are more insightful if harder to describe. One difference that I did pick up on - and I see this elsewhere - is how independent the kids are. They are left to practice and produce just about everything for the show themselves. Teachers are really left in a support position. Now of course the teachers are there to help, but the kids plan everything in detail. If you left Stony Plain kids to their own devices they would get distracted and you would not see something of this scale. The kids here just problem solve themselves. Here, while the production was not a Kenneth Branagh Shakespearian production, it did go smoothly, was very creative and took a lot of work. The kids did everything; the grade sixes, for instance, scripted and performed a twenty minute drama, including a simple musical score for drums and piano to go along with the action; to painting huge backgrounds of Shikaoi for a songs. I have included one pictures of the grade fours singing one of my favorite Japanese songs, "Sukiyaki". The kids will get a kid out of seeing the images on the web. They did a very good job, singing and performing the song on instruments (in the same song!). Lastly, I posted pictures of Shikaoi elementary Taiko drummers for my mother's enjoyment. This type of drum is something that has to be seen live to be enjoyed.

Saturday at home writing

I would like to give a shout out today to my good friends Drew (who is unable to read this blog), Sean E, and Pat who are participating this year in NaNoWriMo. I only found out recently that Sean E. and Drew were participating - they signed up a bit late - but I wish them luck. It sounds like all of us, spread all over the world, are planning to stay home today and write. Aren't we a bundle of fun? For those wondering, as of today Nov. 12, my wordcount today is: 17,815. That's 35.36% completed of 50,000 words. My plot has gone completely off the rails, but this was never a mission to write the Great Canadian Novel, but rather an exercise in creativity. It has not turned out to be a blackhole of spare time I had thought is was going to be, 1667 words a day is very manageable. Writing a novel is about the best excuse for blowing things off and leaving functions early; number one, its the truth, secondly, its easy to just slip out while the person is mentally digesting what you just said. After I post this I will make some more Jasmine Dragon Tears tea (thanks James!) and write a bit. Just to detail exactly how this process is continuing; today I plan three writing sessions, one this morning, another this afternoon, and again after dinner. I will also squeeze in a lunch with a friend, out of course, as a reward. After I finish writing this morning I am going to attack the dishes in the sink and sweep the house; so although NaNoWriMo can be a great excuse to let all parts of your life go, I still feel the need to keep some semblance of order in my life. Sunday is busier, I have a function at Chomin Hall with Shikaoi Elementary School all day. I know it's on a Sunday, but I'm expected to attend and I want to go anyway, I'll do anything is my kids ask, including, but not limited to, jumping through flaming hoops for their enjoyment. I hope everyone liked the pictures of snow; its actually really nice today, it's going to get above 10C today.

Posting On Friday

The arch of a slow week is almost at its terminus. Only two classes this whole week. In my free time at the office I tend to write or study Japanese. I offer to help out but there seems to be less-than-enough to do most of the time. Each changing of the seasons in Japan draws out very different behaviors in the people. This week there was a flurry of activity as people got ready for winter. Our activities in Hokkaido even made the national news; getting winter tires on our vehicles, putting up snow poles, putting up the wind barricades. I will take a picture of the wind barricades because their hard to picture without having been to Hokkaido. Basically, the wind can get very bad on the open road so barricades are installed permanently that can be cranked up for winter, this makes it less dangerous, furthermore it stops snow drifts from developing. I took a picture of the snow poles near my house, they went up this week all around Shikaoi, their purpose is to mark all the curbs that will eventually be buried under a biblical amounts of snow. The snow tires, that I should be getting sometime today, are pretty self-explanatory. Also, about twelve shovels appeared in the side entrance of office. Winter is most definitely coming.



The first snow I saw was this week was on Wednesday. It was a bit disturbing because, though it was snowing relatively hard, it was very bright and sunny out. Is this a bad omen? The snow, however, did not stick around. Yesterday - Thursday - it snowed again, this time not in the town proper but further out at a town I teach out, Urimaku. This is where the picture of the tree was taken. Do not be mistaken and think the picture was taken in the evening. This was taken about 8:30 AM. Don't you think it's dark? This snow, also, did not stay. One great thing about living in japan is the ability to get sweet Christmas Oranges six months of the year, until early spring. They are from Shizokuka and are dirt cheap. I eat two or three a day. I will switch back to delicious Fuji apples in the summer, although regular and Christmas Oranges (called mikans here) as still available (but less sweet).



I got an interesting note from my good friend Drew in China in regards to Blogs, since he is denied access to reading my site. I thought his not was very insightful to the situation in China right now and is especially significant in regards to the upcoming Olympic games. I will not analyze it to absurdism, as I have been known to do on other topics, and will let the reader make their own deductions.

"One thing that surprisez me about China is it's Govenments ability to be almost completely invisible. Blogs are, however, one major exception to this rule. China's govenment has decided that BLOG websites might be harmful to their continuation, so unfortunately I can't go to your web blog site."

I will be posting again later today in regard to my progress in NaNoWriMo.

House Keeping

I just wanted to say that I've made some small changes to the site - housekeeping stuff; I'm just trying to refine the reader's experience of The Perfect Architecture Company. First off in this effort is that I'm now keeping detailed stats of viewers. I hope to use this data to improve content. This had already lead to some interesting conclusions. For every one friend or family member that reads the site, three people wonder in from absolutely anywhere on the web. Shout out to everyone out there in Cyber Land! Secondly, I've got the comment system working for the site. So feel feed to ask questions or whatever. This should be rather straight forward. Just so you are aware; thanks to hackers, there is a box that makes your type in a word, this is to keep spam off the boards. Don't let it deter you from leaving a message, I will try to respond to questions in a timely manner. Lastly, I have started to host some photos offsite. I've already gone back and re-posted some photos. This will not change the look of the page but may change some load times. If you have high-speed I doubt you will see a difference, but again, if you do, please be patient because all systems are nominal.